Chile has been one of the faster growing economies in the region during the last decade. However, like the rest of the Latin American and the Caribbean region, 50 percent of its businesses are struggling to hire qualified workers, especially for technical and operative positions. In parallel, 4.2 million youth, especially those in more disadvantaged situations, have unlocked potential and risk being excluded from economic grow.
In this context, a group of institutions such as Chile’s Ministry of Education; the National Training and Employment Service; Chile Valora; the National Youth Institute; Arcos Dorados; Microsoft; the Business Association of Valparaiso Region; and the Foundation of the University of Playa Ancha decided, at the end of 2016, to join efforts in generating innovative solutions for youth unemployment in Valparaiso. They decided to work together, understanding that youth unemployment is too complex of an issue to be resolved by only one stakeholder. This collective effort is called Alliance NEO Chile
Participants soon realized that interpretations of the problem were based on the distinct visions and interests of each one of the partners. And to address this, partners decided to execute a series of key steps before constituting its multi-sectorial alliance
· Let’s start by identifying the favorable conditions. Some questions that partnering organizations should keep in mind include: What is the problem that is convening them? Is a multi-sectorial alliance the best approach to resolve it? Is the political and social context favorable for the partnership? Are all the key partners on board? Is any crucial partner missing? Do all members agree in a common agenda? Do all members have a shared vision for change, including the same understanding about the problem and how to resolve it? These are such obvious questions, but sometimes with the initial excitement and motivation, they are not given enough attention.
· Many are invited, but few are chosen. What matters is institutional capacity and the alignment of the organizations’ missions with respect to the topic to be resolved. The multi-sectorial representation enriches the variety of commitments: the private sector commits resources and provides knowledge in management, marketing and innovation; the public sector provides scale and sustainable development; and civil society provides experience in social problems and functions as a mediator between government and businesses. Everything is organized by a back-bone organization with very special characteristics like: leadership, technical capacity, mediation skills, connections with the public and private sector, convening capacity, recognition as an expert institution on the topic, transparency and neutrality to inspire trust among the alliance members. In summary, to generate a structural change, you do not need many partners, only the appropriate ones. Working under the alliance approach is complicated. It is recommended to start with a small number of critical stakeholders and add new members only when they provide a valuable capacity to achieve the main goal.
· Memorandum of understanding: Who are we? What we do? How we do it? Why we do it? When the alliance has achieved an agreement about goals and actions, it is vital to concrete those agreements in writing in a clear, specific, and revisable way. The alliances are established normally via a “memorandum of understanding”. This memo is signed by the members of the alliance and it should describe the will of the members, the rules of the game, the commitments, the responsibilities, how they are going to organize the implementation, the monitoring mechanism and the evaluation of the results. At the same time, it should consider the authorities’ turn over within the institutions, the changes in the institutions’ priorities and the participants’ motivation that may affect the compliance of the commitments.
· A bumping road. The challenge is now getting interesting and it is crucial to preserve motivation by emphasizing mid-term achievements. Moreover, like any building designed to withstand earthquakes, the rules of the game should be flexible and adaptive. It is important be clear on the strategic goal and to develop a culture of constant improvement according to the circumstances that may arise during the execution. Another important matter is the way that partners co-sharing the operation responsibilities taking advantage of the partners’ know-how and developing a strengthening space opportunities for the less robust institutions to grow. Lastly, for the alliance to work, ongoing communication is vital: open and transparent with the aim of fostering mutual trust. Executive Directors, local managers and specialists should perceive themselves as active players, capable of generating change in the organizational, that encourages the institutionalization of the new multi-sectorial manner of working.
· Don’t be afraid to evaluate complexity. To measure the intangible is not an easy task, but it is indispensable to include qualitative data related to the vitality and sustainability of the alliances, and not only quantitative data. It is crucial to generate evidence that documents new procedures and solutions. In addition to following up on the final beneficiaries, it is also important to follow up on the institutions and new relationships developed among the members of the alliance. Evaluating complex initiatives implies capturing and describing the qualities, strengths, and challenges of the institutions per se, as well as the interrelationship among them, and what type of changes are generated in the youth employment system.
The theory of change of the Alliance NEO Chile is that multi-sectorial work can generate systemic impact, and impact in the structures beyond the results of an individual intervention and create change on a large scale, sustainable in the mindset and behaviors of youth, authorities, organizations, and companies. Moreover, this way of working activates new solutions, makes procedures more efficient, liberalizes resources, generates innovation and improves the capacity to respond to new challenges.
According to rumors, when moments of disagreement arise, some partners think: “if I were working by myself, I would work faster!” But some minutes later, they calm down and remember that together they can walk farther. In 2019, the alliance partners will confirm to us if this first experience in Chile was worthwhile.